ABSTRACT
Bipolar disorder has been associated with various biological, environmental, genetic, social, personality, and neurocognitive variables. The ups and downs of individuals with bipolar disorder can be a challenge to patients and their families. Different single-school, integrated, and unified psychological models have been used to explain the etiology and treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). Chapter 6, “Bipolar Disorder,” delineates different types of bipolar disorder and the symptoms, diagnosis, prevalence, and underpinnings or causes of bipolar disorder. The chapter discusses how bipolar disorder develops and is maintained, the suicide risk associated with bipolar disorder, relapse, and bipolar disorder, and it explores integrated and unified psychotherapy for individuals with bipolar disorder including a combination of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. How to implement integrated and unified psychotherapy in practice for bipolar disorder is explained at the end of the chapter. Psychoeducation is a common thread among psychotherapy approaches for bipolar disorder. Chapter 6 includes a clinical case example that integrates a psychodynamic group approach with a cognitive and existential-phenomenological individual therapy approach to treat a patient with bipolar disorder.
